Raulí Forest increases in biomass of seedlings Raulí after the mass death of Quila.
For nearly 60 years culeou Chusquea (Quila, Colihue) a bamboo species dominated the forest understory of Nothofagus nervosa (= Alpine Raulí) in Argentina and Chile. However, in 2001 came a massive flowering event with subsequent death of Quila, affecting more than 200 thousand hectares. In this study, Marchesini et al studied forests located in the Parque Nacional Lanin (Neuquen, Argentina) to investigate whether micro-environmental conditions were substantially altered in the understory and explore its ecological effect both in the Quila as the regeneration of tree species. Examples of these changes are the increased availability of light in the understory, increased air temperature and soil changes in soil water availability. These changes could have an impact on the survival of seedlings of tree species. In this case, the authors explored the effects on Raulí, comparing sites with no flowering Quila (ie understory live) and flowering Quila (understory dead.) The authors found only an increase in light availability in the soil but found no changes in other microenvironmental variables studied. The establishment of Quila after flowering occurred in a small window of time (3 years) and Quila mortality showed no difference related to understory light availability. The death of quila led to an increase in survival, biomass, height and number of leaves and buds of the seedlings of N. alpina. This would suggest that the flowering of the Quila could generate microenvironmental changes that would influence the growth and survival of forest regeneration. The authors stress the need to conduct long-term studies would further clarify the ecological role of these extraordinary events and rare (may occur every 15 years) in the temperate rainforests of South America.
Source:
Marchesini, V., Sala, O., & Austin, A. (2009). Ecological consequences of a massive flowering event of bamboo (Chusquea coleou) in a temperate forest of Patagonia, Argentina
Journal of Vegetation Science, 20 (3), 424-432 DOI: 10.1111/j.1654-1103.2009.05768.x
Sotobosque de Chusquea coleou Fotos: Wikimedia commons
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